Manuela Mourao

Say their Names: for this painting I used oil, cold wax, and encaustic over a collage of a series of images about the pandemic and the protests that followed the murder of George Floyd by police on Memorial Day Weekend (May 25, 2020), the same week-end when the front page of New York Times showed only the names of victims of the COVID-19 virus. I made this painting in order to foreground how these two momentous realities (the pandemic and the protests) coincided in time, and to highlight how, despite the quarantine, a tidal wave of demonstrations of solidarity against systemic racism swept the country. To that end, I worked with the following images culled from what the media published around that time: a George Floyd Mural, done by street artist AKSA; two pieces of text art designed with the names of African-Americans killed by police-- Black Lives Mater and Say Their Names; the cover of the New Yorker for June 20 by Kadir Nelson, featuring George Floyd; light projection of LGBTQ+ rainbow during Pride Month over Robert E Lee statue in Richmond, VA; teenage-ballerinas Ava Holloway and Kennedy George dancing in front of Robert E Lee statue, Richmond, VA; photo of text art projection on the façade of the Department of Justice, Washington, DC on June 20; photo by Martha Raddatz of active duty troops on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC (posted on her twitter, June 2). By participating in this exhibition with this piece, I hope to contribute to celebrating this historical movement.